A minister in Europe left a comment on this blog some time back, essentially stating a) that numbers in Church (that is, attendance) are important because they are symptomatic, b) we need a healthy spiritual response to numbers, and c) his denomination has a goal of 10% growth per annum through conversions. Then I received an e-mail from a minister in South Africa, noting that the 10% goal frightened him -- among other things because a) one was falling for the desire to be "successful", and b) this introduced pressure to the ministry. OBSERVATION: My own first response was that my heart sank. The 10% goal (or any goal) would weigh me down. It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. In my view, such goals and ministry don't go together. My next response was that it's a typically Western mindset, to cast things in quantifiable terms, in terms of method and design, and so on. I don't think those are Biblical or spiritual categories, and I don't think they are relevant to the Church. Thirdly, I thought that Churches have strange dynamics which are beyond any prediction. They behave more like (in Biblical terms) the wind which blows wherever it pleases.
2 comments:
Guilty as charged. :-)
In setting a goal of '10% conversion growth' the emphasis was on conversion. The goal was to challenge pastors to consider what they could/should do differently if the goal is to see people come to Christ and grow in spiritual maturity. Most church growth strategies in the West focus simply on attendance and budgets, and by encouraging a conversion growth goal we're challenging pastors to think more spiritually and biblically about what they do. We acknowledge, of course, that the best we can do is plant and water. It is God who brings the increase.
Thanks honest2blog. It would be interesting to hear where this actually went, with hindsight.
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